What Heavy jet will SWA buy?

[Luv2BFlyin]

Is that part of the culture Bubba? Dumb down the airplane to save money and forgo the inherent safety that technology could provide. A lot of us have flown round dials and mono - chrome radar and ain't skeered, but given the choice, I'd want every option available to get me home safely and get my pax safely to their destination (all the way to the proper airport and gate).

 

[FurloughedAgain]

I have to agree. The 737 is several generations behind the latest technology. Certainly turning on probe heat isn't a deal killer, but having an EICAS would be helpful. Let's say, for example, one channel of your Mach trim fails. Right now you would have to start engines, taxi all the way out to the end of the runway and press recall to find out. With EICAS as soon as the system got hydraulic pressure (or possibly sooner) you would see that the channel failed. It's not as if there is insufficient real estate to add EICAS... A whole screen is wasted on a two inch hydraulic quantity gauge. SWA or not, Boeing should bring the airplane to the current generation of technology including automatic bus switching (why do you need to move a switch to bring a generator online? When it comes up to speed why would it not simply close the generator relay and open the APU relay?) single/triple chime aural warnings would be nice too...

I agree with those who say that the Max cockpit and the Dreamliner cockpit should be very similar. If Delta can fly every airplane you've ever imagined, and if the DC9 and the 717 are the same type rating, I'd bet SWA could handle a next generation version of the next gen.

 

[waveflyer]

Thanks! You know, I was tempted to stop reading there, because I kinda' had the feeling the other Dicko shoe was going to drop...

It may be the ugly sister, but she's also the more protective sister. It's the sister that knows that in the terminal area, proper exact altitude is more important that proper exact airspeed.

Hey, maybe he knew it was you down there waiting, and said it on purpose; figuring that it might raise your blood pressure enough to medically retire you before you came over and was senior to him!

Although I don't have any real desire to ever go to Mexico city, I can imagine. Hey, you do what you gotta' do. I once had a heavy with all four engines at idle, full speedbrakes extended, and then still had to throw out the gear at FL 280 (I'm sure Jim would be proud of me!). 'Course, that was to keep from rear-ending a tanker going 60 kts slower than briefed, and that almost never seems to be an issue in the airline world!


For that same poster, and the guy who complained about having to actually turn on the probe heat manually (my God!--how inhumane!), the reason the 737 NG, and presumably the 737-MAX looks so much like every other Southwest 737 is, well.... because it looks like every other Southwest 737. By having fewer differences, Southwest can have a single type rating, and every pilot can fly every model. Saves mucho money, and we get to use essentially the same procedures from plane to plane, which promotes safety. I can't imagine that Southwest wants to have different types of type ratings, just so pilots don't have to flip as many switches. And since we're Boeing's largest single 737 customer, they obviously cater to that desire somewhat.

To the rest of the industry who fly 737s and don't like how they turn out, then all I can say is, "Sorry!" You can either buy another type of aircraft, or you can buy so damn many of them, that you get more say in how they're designed. Either that, or just keep bitching at Southwest, although that seems to be the choice that has the least likelihood of changing anything. :0

Bubba

Except for a flight school friend of mine (new check airman) was showing me around the planes at Skywest in their hangar one day on a SLC layover 3-4 years ago.

Apparently they fly all 3 versions of the crj (200/700/900) and each has it's differences on a single type-
My regional had different bids for the different sizes- but at Skywest, Every RJ pilot flies every version- just like us.

Don't quote me, but the -7/9's have push buttons and and auto ice protection while the older RJ-200's do not

Point being bubba- I get that line pilots don't get a say in these things- BUT! Like single engine taxi, we have droves of 20-something's operating sophisticated jets all over North America in ways that we don't allow in the name of the unquestionable safety card.

And I've never appreciated that.

If it saves money, that's one thing- but not embracing technology usually comes with an efficiency price tag as well.
We should remember that and try and get the head shed to remember that as well. Wasn't the excuse for the digital six pack the idea that it would be unsafe to fly -300's and the speed tape design?
Yet we figured it out- and it would have been easier if we had figured it out at the introduction of the NG instead of going through the decade of "flying it like a -200"
If we had turned on the auto throttles a long time ago- how much money could we have saved?
if we can operate -700's from different sources with marginally different set ups, and -800's, AND classics, I'm pretty sure we could handle Max's w/ an EICAS, system Synoptics, and an ice detector-
It's really not that hard

In fact, it's better

 

[waveflyer]

Well said Luv and Furloughed

 

[FurloughedAgain]

Unfortunately, the Max design is finalized and it looks as though they have opted for no redesign of the overhead panels. It has bigger screens, but the same display as the NG - still without EICAS. (Note the recall switch/light is still there)

 

[waveflyer]

And that seriously bums me out.

We will at some point have to stop being the technological laughing stock

Don't waste money on tech that won't pay for itself- but most of it does.

 

[Luv2BFlyin]

Glad to see you are getting closer to aero-data and getting away from the OPC. The ops agents won't like it, but the fo's job will get a little easier.

 

[FurloughedAgain]

Wonder if it will be like Aerodata at JetBlue where they still have to print out the data and then re-type it right back into the CDU... or if it will automatically populate the weights and speeds?

 

[Luv2BFlyin]

At the Tranny, some of us print it off for a hard copy, but with a few key strokes, it will populate the fms. Except a few of our aircraft on the first flight of the day. You have to manually insert the data but it's a non - event compared to what I've heard about preflighting and using the OPC.

 

[FurloughedAgain]

OPC goes pretty quickly once you get used to it - but like a lot of things, it's pretty antiquated. Since they got rid of the printers in all but the 800s I really hope aerodata auto-populates.